Beauty Blog

Tag: maybelline

Alright so, in 2017 there was quite the trend for metallic lips and brands put out several quite different formulas for metallic lips. Maybelline released liquid lipsticks called Metallic Foil, and there were several quite unusual colors as well. Now I thought they would be permanent, so I took my sweet time testing except now I realize they may have been LE all along? Sorry if my review comes too late, let’s hope not.

I also want to add that as usual, my posts are not sponsored and I bought all products myself. I feel the need to say this, because I really, really love these. They’re so good.

The color selection was a bit weird. There were like three pinks that were pretty close imho, a gold and a bronze and then a bunch of really outlandish colors which I loved. I think they should have also done a red. The colors I picked up are 95 Luna, the lighter pink, 120 Nemesis, a deep purple, 125 Vortex, a bronze green and 130 Labyrinth, a deep teal/gunmetal.

These are liquid lipsticks, they are shimmery but dry matte. They come with the typical liquid lipstick application rules: do not press lips together until lipstick is completely dry, smile once while it’s wet to avoid it cracking. The only way to remove them is with oil. They wear off a bit on the very inside of the lip but other than that you can eat with them, no problem. They stay and stay and stay. And when you remove them, that’s a bit weird, the lipstick flakes off. Like tubes mascara? Also unlike most other liquid lipsticks it is not drying at all and you don’t get the shrivelled up look either. However, upon application they tingle. This feels weird but I have worn them many times and hours now and there was no further negative effect, so I don’t think it was an allergy of mine. The tingling also stops once the lipstick is dry. However, if that’s something you dislike better avoid them.

Swatches. These are a single swipe and you can see that you need to go over the lips more than once to get even distribution. The colors remind me of nail polish and like most nail polish they need a second layer. But once the color is on, it’s opaque and stays like that until removal. There is no fading (like I said this flakes off but only when in contact with a good amount of oil).

All of the colors are shimmery and shimmer basically matches the base color. Luna is pink with pink shimmer, Nemesis is deep purple with purple shimmer, Vortex differs because it’s a brassy green with bronze shimmer. And then Labyrinth is a deep teal with teal shimmer.

The applicator is a regular flocked applicator. I found it easy to get crisp lines, which is important with such intense colors.

All of the colors applied well, with the caveat that you do need two coats. Labyrinth (the teal) was the only exception. As often with very dark colors it was a bit more difficult. I had to go over certain spots more often and the edges were harder to get clean, however it was still workable and the result was opaque and long lasting.

Overall the metallic foils get a huge thumbs up from me and I’m so surprised these came from a mainstream drugstore brand and not from an indie brand. I do hope they are still available or that they are made permanent or come back as LE at least, because those are the best liquid lipsticks I own. I reach for them whenever I need something solid and fuss free and who’d have thunk you’d ever go for a color like Nemesis or Vortex when you want fuss free?

Colorwise my absolute favorite is Vortex, because you know I love my bronzy olives like no other.

Pictured here are the MaybellineColorSensational lipsticks in 35 Steel Chic and 10 Pure Gold. They both come in Maybelline’s newest finish, metallic. Now these may be old news if you live like in the US or something because they were released a year ago. But they didn’t make it to our tiny country in Europe until now. They didn’t even get a display, they were just added to the regular lipsticks and I wouldn’t even have noticed them if they didn’t have a two digit number instead of three digit. Yes I’m the nerd who notices these things.

There were more colors but they swatched pretty patchy, so they weren’t allowed to come even if in theory they looked super pretty.

Swatch, first Steel Chic, then Pure Gold (don’t you think that looks like it should be called Pure Copper instead?). Both colors are not opaque and no amount of application on the lips made them stay opaque (even if they looked it at first, the color wore off again). So while these smell and apply like Maybelline’s bold and matte finish (and the finish is matte) they don’t have their color intensity. However, once you accept that, they make pretty good lipsticks. The upside to not being opaque is that it blends in better with your own skin tone. Pure Gold is a pretty intense color and you may feel more comfortable wearing it if you only applied a little bit, anyway.

I’d call Steel Chic a taupe color with frosty shimmer. Pure Gold, I don’t even know if i has a base color, it seems to be shimmer all the way. Both colors go well with the current trend of matte high shimmer lips. I think those truly deserve the metallic tag, unlike the MAC metallic lipsticks, which were just their usual lustre finish with more chunks of glitter. Swatches of the MAC metallic finish can be seen here and here.

Steel Chic is the perfect color for you if you want to try the very cool toned dark taupe trend, but find opaque ones (like from the Balmain Collection here) too stark. Use your finger for blending the edges and you’ll get a pretty cool grunge look.

Pure Gold is almost more suited for costumes of egyptian goddesses/Beyoncé.

Both lipsticks last around four hours, Pure Gold a bit longer than Steel Chic. They wear off on the inside when you eat. Both lipsticks have the typical Maybelline Color Sensational smell, which is a sort of funky fruity bubblegum smell. Keep that in mind if you hate smelly lipsticks.

Gone Greige 893 is part of the Maybelline Colorsensational lipsticks line. The finish is bold, which basically means a pigmented velvety finish, not 100% matte.

Swatch. You could call it brown, but it’s really cool toned, so greige isn’t too far off. You don’t really need a lip liner for it but I noticed the MAC lipliner in Stone matches it pretty well – enough that I wonder if Gone Greige is a dupe for the Stone lipstick. So I checked out the perfect swatch gallery at temptalia. And wow, does Gone Greige look different on Christine! On me it looks like her Stone swatch. So maybe Gone Greige is Stone for the pale kids or whatever.

Anyways this has become one of my fav lipsticks. The look is modern and not too edgy at the same time. It lasts about three hours on me and fades evenly. Eating removes it a bit more on the inside but the color is such that it isn’t immediately visible.

This is the lipstick from my last haul, Maybelline Smoky Rose 987. (If the number starts with a 9 it means it’s a matte finish.) This is from their current collection, Inti-Matte Nudes, which features matte nudes for every skin tone.

Well, for me Smoky Rose isn’t really nude, it’s a typical My Lips But Better shade and don’t we all love these? The color is opaque and goes on creamy, then dries down to a matte finish. The whole thing lasts about four hours, give or take. Sadly it is a bit drying over time, so good lip care is essential.

Color Comparison: first is Smoky Rose, underneath is essence long lasting lipstick in Natural Beauty. The essence lipstick is more semi-opaque, shinier and a bit lighter in color. I love both, depending on what kind of finish I want that day.

I seriouly recommend taking a look at Smoky Rose in the stores, as the color is so, so pretty and wearable.

You know this thing where you go to a store because you need a specific thing and then come home with a whole gaggle of stuff you didn’t really need? XD

So I decided to try out the makeup sponges by Real Techniques. I can’t even say why. I never felt the need to pick up the original beauty blender, yet this orange thing said “buy me!” when I walked past. There’s also a whole list of brushes of theirs I want (but not really need).

Then I bought two back ups from essence: the mascara topper Forbidden Volume and the Camouflage Make-up & Concealer. Note how the cap of the Forbidden Volume has a sticker on it saying ‘new’. The Forbidden Volume line came out last summer, featuring two different mascaras and one top coat. I bought them when they were brand new and had a 2 for 1 promo. The next week I went back and bought another set since they were pretty good for the price. And in February, (only six months or so later) essence discontinued them! Yes, a product with the ‘new’ sticker on it and already not available anymore. Boo! So I bought that one as a back up. The Camouflage makeup, luckily, is not discontinued but I thought better safe than sorry and bought a back up since it is my favorite foundation.

Then there’s a lipstick from Maybelline, 987 Smoky Rose. I think this was new, it was on a display among mostly nude colors (review upcoming).

Last there’s a nail polish by Sally Hansen, 120 Luna Pearl. I don’t expect this one to be opaque, but it has such a pretty purple shimmer!

And I also picked up this one here: BaleaRegenbogen Dusche. This was probably the most hyped shower gel of the last few months; it sold out pretty much immediately thanks to the unicorn hype. I got lucky; there were a few bottles left in a more remote location so I grabbed one. At least this one wasn’t an expensive hype: as all Balea shower gels it cost only 89 cent for 300 ml. XD The smell is lovely. It’s a milky, coconutty sort of sweetness, but not too much coconut.

Now I am back on shower gel and body lotion no-buy. These things just accumulate so easily? And because the bottles are so big they just clog up the bathroom.

When I read about the release of Maybelline‘s new Color Sensational line, the loaded bolds I was SO exited! Unusual colors! There was a whole line of them in the US. It always takes a while for Maybelline products to release over here so I waited faithfully. And when they came – instead of a lineup it was like five measly lipsticks. All stripped of the interesting colors like blue, black, grey. It was only red, pink, berry and the white shade. Boo! Booooring! I had no use for the white so I picked the single interesting color (the reds and pinks were good quality, too, but how many reds and pinks do I need?) which was the berry shade 886 Berry Bossy. And then I picked up two of the matte ones as well, because okay, apparently I did need one more red, 968 Rich Ruby and a nude, 932 Clay Crush.

How to tell the regular matte line and the loaded bolds apart: the bolds have numbers starting with 8, like Berry Bossy 886. The mattes start with 9, like Clay Crush 932. The bolds have a sleek blue packaging, the mattes a grey satiny one. The mattes are much better in this regard, because my Berry Bossy looked scratched very fast, while you can’t see any scratches or lines in the others. The lipstick quality is honestly quite similar. Both lines give a satiny matte finish. Actually I think the matte ones might be creamier than the bold. Both have the vanilla scent of the Color Sensational line.

The bullets: Berry Bossy, Rich Ruby, Clay Crush.

The swatches in shade: Berry Bossy, Rich Ruby, Clay Crush.

Same swatches in direct sunlight. Look how, well, rich Rich Ruby is!

All three colors apply well and last well, too. You can create a thin stain with them or apply fully. I absolutely adore wearing all three.

Berry Bossy is a great berry shade, just dark enough and just rich enough without being too goth or too purple. Goes with everything, really. I tried to get a pic of me with it on my lips but the light conditions were always terrible, so sorry.

Rich Ruby is – I mean I have a lot of reds, but it’s just a really good red! It’s darker than many of my reds (without being a dark red, mind you; it’s just intense) and the undertone is neutral – it’s neither blue nor yellow leaning.

Here’s a terrible phone pic of me wearing it.

Clay Crush is this really good nude without being too pale. Wearing it doesn’t wash me out and it doesn’t look too brown either (something that often happens when a very pale person wears nude – it ends up just brown).

Finally a good lip swatch! The difference between a phone and a high def camera pic, haha! You can see Clay Crush has orangey undertones, so depending on your skin tones that might work or not.

I can recommend all three lipsticks. I am pleased in general with the quality of the Maybelline Color Sensational line, but I am displeased with the fact that here in Austria we only get the traditional shades (and the white which is more of an altering shade than one you would wear alone). Get with the program, Maybelline!!!

As I liked the Maybelline Colorsensational Matte in Magnetic Magenta so much I picked up another color: 960 Red Sunset.

The Colorsensational lipsticks have a strong scent of bubblegum sweetness, but it goes away after application. The mattes have a fine texture, the finish is a satiny matte, not super matte.

Red Sunset ist red, but not a true red. It has lots of pink in. Maybe it’s even more of a corally pink. Hard to describe. Whatever the color is, it is very summery. And it actually does sort of look like a sunset.

Sadly the weartime doesn’t compare to Magnetic Magenta. I wore it several times to make sure, but even without eating it wears off on the inside of the lip after three hours, and with eating or drinking it wears off faster. The color also gathers in fine lip lines. It does not bleed out, though. All of this isn’t terribly bad, it’s still a nice lipstick, and when it wears off it is not super duper visible, unless you’re a beauty blogger and looking for it. But I have better matte lipsticks.

My current brow pencil feels like it may run out so I snatched up the new Maybelline brow pencils at the last Maybelline promo deal.

They are called Brow Satin and they are double ended pencils. One end looks like this:

This is the pencil end. The cap is black and a pull off one.

The other end is in the chosen color and with a screw off cap. These are sponges with powder on. I think the powder is kept in the cap. I’m not entirely sure and luckily it has not spilled out even though I already dropped the cap.

I picked up both Medium Brown (top) and Dark Brown (bottom).

And these are the swatches. In the middle the pencils and above and unerneath the powder of the matching color.

The pencil end is for a more precise look, the powders are soft and a little less directional. Both colors are taupey and cool. I detected no redness wearing these in my brows. Usually I have this problem a lot. My current brow pencil is Lingering by MAC, but ever since I went from being reddish to blonde I felt that Lingering had too much red undertone.

Colorwise, both Medium Brown and Dark Brown work for me. Medium Brown gives me a great normal, everyday look, while Dark Brown gives me Cara Delevigne brows. Medium Brown should work for many people.

The pencil ends are great. They give off just the right amount of color and apply easily. After the very first application they did not tug or feel scratchy. (The very first time they felt a little harsh – as you can see they are cut off at a 90 degree angle instead of rounded! But that wore down easily.) I don’t like that the packaging is so thick. You have to be careful of how you hold the pencil. The packaging of high end pencils is much sleeker.

I’m not entirely convinced by the powder end. At first you get too much off the sponge and it has to be brushed around, then there’s not enough powder on for an entire brow (my brows are thick). Usually I stick with the pencil unless I want to soften the look.

Overall I absolutley love the color and the pencil part. I will use up my MAC pencil but after that I will stick with these. Packaging and product aren’t perfect, but workable and finding a good color is so hard so I’m glad I found these completely on accident.

Every once in a while I feel compelled to try some drugstore stuff. These lipsticks by Maybelline, the Color Sensational matte, are not new but somehow I never noticed them before. These can be found in the regular Maybelline range.

The biggest problem with buying makeup at the drugstore is always to find an untouched specimen. People are SO disgusting. I know plastic is bad for the environment but I do wish these lipsticks came packaged in a way that prevented opening/shows when they have been opened. Well, but here’s my untouched lipstick (from way at the back of the lipstick row): 950 Magnetic Magenta. The color is somewhere in between pink and purple. This color is really hot right now and you can find it in many ranges.

Swatch. The finish is the typical satiny matte that most newer mattes have. It gives a thin layer of color. Maybelline still has their other line of matte lipsticks (14h stay) out, those are thicker and drier.

Color comparison to my other new purchase, Estee Lauder Stronger. Stronger is way more purple.

I really like this lipstick. I already bought another color, as you could see in my last haul post. The quality is great. Despite being matte it didn’t feel drying and my lips looked okay the next day. I do wear lip balm underneath, though (always do). The color didn’t bleed or collect in fine lines, it stays where its put. I get about six hours of wear out of it and this is WITH eating and drinking. I even gave it the ultimate test of eating a burger with it. Afterwards I could tell that it had worn off, but so little that I was okay with it without reapplying. To get it off comepletely I needed a waterproof makeup remover.

I would very much recommend this lipstick – if you can manage to find an untouched one!

Then I stocked up on the MACCC Cream. I mean if you’re gonna buy it anyway, you might as well do it when you can get it for 20% off. (In the last three years MAC has gotten more and more expensive here. I have my staples that I’ll keep buying but for the rest I’m checking out other brands now.)

I also got another Maybelline lipstick, the Color Sensational matte in 960 Red Sunset.

Then I bought two things that people keep raving about: the NYXJumbo Eye Pencil in Milk, as a base for colorful makeup, and an EOS lip balm. I picked Strawberry Sorbet, not because I prefer strawberry scent, but because this one came without the bad scent components (like Linalool, Geraniol etc). I’m trying to pay more attention to that now. The reason that I bought Eos at all is, well I needed a lip balm, but I picked Eos because I felt compelled to at least try it as a beauty blogger… “for science” so to say. 🙂

The last items are the freebies I got: Missoni‘s first perfume release, Missoni EdP, and the new Escada summer scent: Agua del Sol EdT.

Well I hope you guys like perfume reviews because I’m not going to run out of topics any time soon.

In december I told a friend I wasn’t going to buy another nude eyeshadow palette in my life. I had all the colors, what was the point, pffft? Then the MaybellineBlushed Nudes was released here and I was like oooh, shiny! Brassy and pinky, my colors.

I am weak.

Pretty! Now, a word of warning: these go on sheer. The brassy colors will not translate to the lid exactly like they look in the pan.

Swatches! Click pic to see it larger. I swatched the colors, top, bottom, repeat.

The first color is a light, matte bone shade. Good for blending the colors into the skin if you are pale. For darker skins, this will be more a matte highlight.

Next is a reddish bronze. Then a shimmery beige, universal lid color with a warm undertone. Next is a satin brown with a little golden shimmer.

Next four are the more cool toned shades: a light shimmery color, sort of a brassy color. Then a mid tone brown, also shimmery. Then a matte baby pink, very light. Underneath a muddy color, slightly shimmery.

Last four are the reddish colors: First a matte pink, darker and stronger than the previous. Then a shimmery burgundy color. Another shimmery bronze, somewhat darker than the first. And lastly, a blackened brown with pink shimmer.

With the last Maybelline Nude palette I bought I said that it had great colors, but was a bit hard to blend (okay to work for a blogger or makeup geek but might have been not perfect for a beginner). With this one I am not entirely convinced by the colors (some are quite close and they are hard to get opaque), but I find them to be extremely easy to blend and put on, and so I think this palette is perfect for a beginner. When you don’t expect intense color and just want something good to work with, to put on quickly and look good, this is one for you!

I got everything from a light nude look to a good smokey eye with it (just not too dark, as the colors always stay a little sheer). One thing that did not work at all was using the darker colors as a liner, something I like to do when I use palettes. But those are just too light and when you pack them on, they crumble and ruin your look. Just stick to normal eyeliner.

Overall I am happy with this palette, I reach for it often in the early morning as it is hard to mess up with those colors, even when you’re still half asleep. However, a good primer is necessary. When used with primer, the creasing and fading is kept to a minimum. I get wear time of about seven hours out of it.

The mascara duo is from Essence: the thinner wand is the Forbidden Volume False Lash Mascara Topcoat, the thicker wand is the Forbidden Volume Mascara Rebel. There’s another duo without the “rebel” in the name, but I thought I might as well go all out. I was actually about to buy the Princess Mascara, but the duo won for one single reason: they came packaged in plastic (shown in top pic). I have trouble buying normal drugstore stuff if it isn’t sealed because I’ve seen too many people use stuff (not the testers) and putting it back in the aisle. And since you can’t tell with mascara if it has been opened, I’m sticking to high end and those drugstore mascaras that come sealed.

The lower lipstick is Estee LauderPure Color Envy Matte in Stronger, one of the most interesting colors in their whole lineup!

And lastly, the eyeshadow duo is NarsFashion Rebel. I am well aware that a matte yellow will not have the best quality, but I just don’t care. I’m packing this stuff on! Spring! (Actually this is a past summer release, but it just screams spring to me right now.)

And this concludes my Spring haul. This is sort of a pre-woman day haul, I got lots of good discounts. This Thursday, for everyone who lives in and near Austria, don’t forget it’s Woman Day. 20% off on shoes, clothes, cosmetics. In my experience this week it will pay off to simply ask for a discount, even if it is not thursday and even if the shop is not officially on the list.

Another month has gone by already, and while I didn’t have much time to blog, I did produce quite a few empties. So let’s dive right into it:

DiorBB Creme in 01: out of all BB Creams I tried this was my favorite. It is a tad pink for me (more NW than NC if we use MAC color scheme) but overall so good that I have already bought another one.

Yves RocherMonoi de Tahiti Shampoo Shower gel: This is the bright blue one that is both shower gel and shampoo. The monoi smell in this one has a note of bubblegum if you ask me. I found this to be a good shower gel but even more important, a very good shampoo. My hair was all silky and easy to comb. That makes this product a clear winner in my books and I will likely buy it again.

List of ingredients. Click to enlarge.

Two Chanel products: The Rouge Coco Shine in Chic that I already talked about in my Lipstick Tag post. This was a limited color, but I have received another one as a gift after talking about it on this blog. 🙂

The other one is my beloved Le Volume mascara in Khaki Bronze, another limited item. Like the name suggests the main draw is the volumising effect. There’s not much lengthening going on and the weight can make the lashes droop a little. But I don’t have a huge problem with my lashes losing their curl so it worked for me. The biggest plus of this mascara was the fact that there was no smudging and no crumbling. Even though it is not waterproof, this was my go-to sure thing mascara. The scond biggest draw was the color, it worked very well for my fair complexion and I wore it to pretty much every look with the exception of black liner looks. Very, very good and while this particular color is not available anymore, I will certainly buy another Le Volume in the future. I just have to use up a couple other mascaras first…

Salvatore FerragamoSignorina Eleganza Body Lotion: Eleganza is a flanker to the perfume Signorina and this was the matching body lotion. The smell is flowery and honestly sorta forgettable. The lotion was of good quality, though.

MaybellineBaby Lips Cherry Me: a red lip balm. Tbh I didn’t expect the color to come out so strong, but this has about the same color pay off as a sheer lipstick when applied twice. The stain left is very strong, the shine wears off after a half an hour. I was on the fence about the nourishing quality of this balm. First I thought it wasn’t that good, weeks later I thought, no it’s quite good. Maybe it depends on the state of your lips. It doesn’t help with very flaky ones. For now I have enough lip balms and I’ll probably try something else rather than repurchasing this one.

So, this concludes my empties of last month. I’m not sure if I will use up anything in October. I have thrown some stuff out that I wasn’t going to finish when I was moving house, so now I have less stuff lying about, yay! (Mum, who helped me pack, in the background right now: “you have WAY too much stuff!” Pffft.)

Nude eyeshadow palettes are still the biggest trend in makeup, every brand has one. A couple weeks ago the Maybelline version (simply called the nudes) finally hit Austrian lands; it has been available in other places for a while. After ooh-ing and aah-ing for a while I picked it up. (Pro tip: compare prices; there’s quite a span)

I was under the impression that it was a permanent addition to the Maybelline lineup, but last week I couldn’t find it anywhere. Anyone know what’s up with that?

Here’s the open palette. The colors can be grouped in several ways, but for me the most obvious is in three groups of four and I will stick to that for this review. What makes this palette so easy to use and versatile is that it has neutrals, warm tones and cool tones. The first quad (on the left) are the neutrals, they go with everything and are my new go to colors for when I use bright lipstick. The next quad are the warm colors: gold, bronze, brown. The last quad are the cool colors.

Here’s a swatch of all the colors; grouped in the quads from above: first neutral, then yellow-toned, then cool.

Close ups: this is the neutral quad. The highlight color is much prettier applied than in the pan; it’s an iridescent cream color. Very similar to MAC’s A Natural Flirt. Then there’s a mid tone slightly shimmery taupe and a lighter matte taupe and a darker matte taupe. They might look different on this swatch, but on the eye they are hard to tell apart when blended. All of these except for the highlight make for a very subtle look; perfect for when you just want to put on a bit of eyeshadow to cover the veins without looking super made up; also perfect for a subtle look paired with bright lips.

This is the warm toned quad. It has a matte highlight color, looks vanilla. I find this one most useful to blend out any color of this palette into the brow bone. Using a light color to blend a darker color out is something I don’t usually do, but these shadows take some work blending them. The next color is a shimmery gold, maybe a bit more yellow than it looks here. I love a good gold shadow, same as the next color: bronze. Both of these are so good for making blue eyes pop. Last color is a warm slightly shimmery brown.

The last group are the cool colors: a light taupe (I call these and the neutrals taupe, but these are definitly more greyish); then a shimmery very light grey-taupe; a matte mid tone taupe; last color is black, but it’s not super pigmented so it can be sheered out into dark grey.

Like I mentioned, these take some blending work, or a very light hand in application (if you get too much color in one place it’s impossible to get off again), they are not as smooth and buttery as high end shadows. Lasting power is great: once they are on, they stay (with primer) all day. I have used the darker colors as smoky liners as well – they create fallout upon application, but once they are on, they stay and don’t smudge.

Here I used the gold on the lid and the bronze in the crease. On my lashes is Chanel Le Volume in Bronze Khaki, to keep it soft.

So, colorwise this is one of the best nudes palettes out there, you get many options. Quality wise this is for those who know what they are doing and who have good blending brushes. Because of this I wouldn’t recommend it for a makeup newbie. For everyone else, this is fairly good. I finally see the point of nude palettes, which I wasn’t so sure about before. Or maybe I finally see the point because I am now crazy about bright lips, which like a toned down eye. 😉

Took a while, but here are the makeup items I used the most in the two previous months. They’re not exactly my favorites, since sometimes you love an item very, very much and then it turns out you barely used it. And sometimes you don’t even notice a thing, but reach for it again and again.

So these are the makeup items I used more than any others:

1. GuerlainCrazy Terracotta: as an orange toned blush/bronzer. It looks innocent here, but it really ends up being mostly coral, not bronzy. I don’t understand how it still looks new after I had and used t for many months. Guerlain magic.

2. Lip liners MACFruit Cocktail and Rosy Rim: Rosy Rim goes with almost everything, so it saw a lot of use. Fruit Cocktail is for orange and coral lips.

3. Lipstick MACMorange: used on its own or with Fruit Cocktail. Honestly, when I bought it I thought I wasn’t going to use it much. Then I had a massive orange phase. XD

4. Eyeliner: ChanelOrchidee. So summery. So lovely.

5. Mascara: ChanelLe Volume Khaki Bronze: My mascara staple. Perfect for subtle definition of my naturally blonde lashes. Sadly, it’s on its last legs and was limited edition. 😦 You’ll see it in a used up post soon.

6. Maybellinethe Nudes: I succumbed and bought a nude palette. Review upcoming. Reason it landed in my “most used” is that I had to try all the shades before reviewing it. But (like any nude palette) it is also very useful for a quick and subtle eye look, so I wore it to work pretty much every day.

I have three gel liners from Maybelline. They come packaged like this and include the pot of liner plus a brush. The brush is a real champion. Whenever I want to apply gel liner I find myself looking for the Maybelline brush, even though I have others.

This is what the brush looks like. It has a thin side and a flat side. Once I got the hang of that it helped me a lot in getting the liner where I want it.

Apart from the 10 Ultra Violet pictured above, I have the 02 Brown pictured here (ignore the nail polish, haha). And then I also have a color that doesn’t seem to be available anymore; 06 Black Pink Diamonds. I don’t own the plain black one since I have MAC Blacktrack and I really don’t need any other.

The pot and the brush with brush guard; I keep losing the brush guards.

This is what Brown looks like in direct sunlight. There is shimmer in the color.

And these are 10 Ultra Violet and 06 Black Pink Diamonds. Yes, I took the pics on different days, hence the changing background. But please bear with me; I think a combined post makes more sense. I bought Brown and Ultra Violet sometimes this year, Black Pink Diamonds is much older, two years I think?

Thinner and thicker swatches of Brown in direct sunlight so you can catch the shimmer. Brown goes on very creamy, it is easy to get a good line onto the eye. The color works sooo well with blue eyes, huge recommendation on the color. Every time I wear it I wonder why I even bother with black.

Swatches of Ultra Violet and Black Pink Diamonds, first with the brush, then with finger. As always, gel liners can be used all over the lid (blend really fast). Gel liners tend to really stick and not crease, so for a while I preferred them to normal cream shadows.

Both colors are not quite as creamy as Brown, but in the brush swatch you can see it’s a lot easier to get a smooth line with Pink Diamonds; Ultra Violet is very dry; it goes on uneven and crumbly. Ultra Violet is also the only color without shimmer. I do not know if there is a connection, or if it is the color, or if I simply happened to get a bad one. I really dislike using Ultra Violat as a liner, it’s easier to apply all over the lid.

Pink Diamonds on the other hand is easy to get on, even though it is pretty old by now (my oldest gel liner, in fact). It’s a as good as new, no changes in texture or whatever.

Wear time on all of these is good, although sometimes a part of the line can crumble off after many hours of wear. My MAC gel liners last better; but the Maybelline ones are still very good. And the best reason to buy it is the brush if you ask me. It’s cheaper to buy a gel liner from Maybelline than to buy a good high end liner brush!

Lazy sundays are good days to clean brushes. They can dry overnight and are ready to use on monday morning.

Currently I am using the Bobbi BrownConditioning Brush Cleanser, which yes, it’s very expensive, but I need so little it’ll last for years.

Brushes, Pt 1. They are still wet, so they look a little worse than they are. I have folded my beloved strawberry towel, so that the handles are higher than the brush heads and the water can drop down. The brushes are from left to right: MAC213, a good one to apply shadow on the lid, Look by BipaEye Blender, this one is a favorite of mine! Bipa is an Austrian drug store chain, their own brand Look by Bipa is cheap and comes in the store’s signature colors white and magenta. The other brushes aren’t so great imo but the blender brush is amazing. It has the same shape as the MAC 217, but with synthetic hair. It blends just as well as the 217, you can only tell that it is much cheaper when you use and wash it very often.

The angled brush in the middle is MAC 266, a favorite of mine to apply eyeshadow as liner. The MAC195, a concealer brush. The black one is an eyeshadow brush by ebelin. I don’t really like it; it’s what I use when I run out of clean brushes.

Brushes, Pt 2. On the very left the Bobbi Brownface blender, an absolute staple of mine. I use it for all over, blush and bronzer. Then MAC219, a pencil brush. Next an absolute favorite, MAC214! I use it to apply eyeshadow on the lower lid. Sadly, it does not seem to be in the regular range, only limited edition??? Next to it, another Look by Bipa eye blender, then my favorite liner brush, the one that comes with the Maybelline gel liner. Then an angled no name brush that I use for brows. MAC217, I don’t think I need to tell you about it. Then smashboxsmudge brush which I use when the 214 is not clean or to smudge liner on the upper lid, although it’s a bit scratchy.

The big white one is a MAC129, my second favorite blush/bronzer/whatever brush, then another 217, the Shiseido foundation brush, and last brush is the 213 again (idetical to the one in the pic above).

Now, this post is not a list of my favorite brushes ever (on that list you’d find the MAC 188, for example), but simply the brushes that needed cleansing and were drying on the towel when I had the idea to snap pics. But it’s a good show of brushes I use often. I have four eye blender brushes because I use them a lot. I’m tempted to get another one of the Bipa brushes, but it’s often sold out.

Most of my expensive brushes come from Holiday sets, that’s why the colors don’t always match up to the regular ones and the handles are short. I like brush sets, you get more for less money. But I only buy them when I know I can use the majority of them.

I don’t clean my brushes every week, but I do aim for every other week. But still, it’s always good to have some clean spares, right? 😉

I put on a layer of Maybelline‘s 430 Bouquet as an accent nail atop of Essie‘s Stones n’Roses. I thought the colors would go well together. Bouquet is a glitter topper with medium sized and small white, pink and rose gold hex glitter in a clear base. The colors are so cute and would go with so many bases. However, application was difficult. I had to fish for pretty much every piece of glitter, which, considering that the glitter is not so big in the first place, is pretty annoying. Then I couldn’t drag it on, I had to pat it in places and it would still try to clump in one place! And then it dried to a matte finish, which made everything really patchy! So I slapped on glossy top coat (EssieGood to Go) and called it a day, which is why it doesn’t look very impressive up there. Sorry.

I am disappointed in this glitter, it is just as terrible as the L’Oreal glitter with exactly the same issues, except at least the L’Oreal glitter readily jumped onto the brush. If you want easy to apply glitter with good glitter payoff and shiny finish, look elsewhere (essence or OPI for example); the only reason to get this one is if you really want this exact color combination.